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GizmoSQL Editions

GizmoSQL is available in two editions to meet different needs:

GizmoSQL Core (Apache 2.0)

Free and open source under the Apache License 2.0.

GizmoSQL Core provides a powerful Flight SQL interface for DuckDB and SQLite with:

  • Full Flight SQL protocol support
  • Authentication (Basic, Bearer, mTLS)
  • TLS encryption
  • DuckDB and SQLite backends
  • Health check endpoints for Kubernetes
  • All standard SQL operations

Build GizmoSQL Core: 

cmake -DGIZMOSQL_ENTERPRISE=OFF -B build
cmake --build build

GizmoSQL Enterprise Edition (Commercial License)

Commercial license with additional enterprise features.

GizmoSQL Enterprise includes all Core features plus:

Feature Description
Runtime Metrics Prometheus HTTP endpoint and gizmosql_metrics() SQL access. Requires the independent metrics license feature and explicit enablement. See Monitoring.
Session Instrumentation Track instances, sessions, and SQL statements for auditing, monitoring, and debugging. Records are stored in a DuckDB database for analysis.
KILL SESSION Terminate active client sessions programmatically via KILL SESSION 'session-id' SQL command. Requires admin role.
Per-Catalog Permissions Fine-grained access control via bootstrap tokens. Use the catalog_access JWT claim to grant read, write, or no access to specific catalogs on a per-user basis.
SSO/OAuth (JWKS Auto-Discovery) Validate IdP-issued tokens (Keycloak, Okta, Auth0, Azure AD) via JWKS auto-discovery. Supports OIDC .well-known discovery, key rotation, and RS256/ES256 algorithms.
Statement Queuing Cap concurrently executing statements; the rest queue transparently (no client changes). Tunable live via SET GLOBAL, with admin bypass, retriable rejections, and queued/cancelled visibility in instrumentation. See Statement Queuing.

Obtaining a License

Contact GizmoData sales at sales@gizmodata.com to obtain an enterprise license.

Using Your License

Provide your license key file when starting the server:

./gizmosql_server --database-filename mydb.db \
    --license-key-file /path/to/license.jwt \
    --enable-instrumentation 1

Or set via environment variables (ideal for containers): 

export GIZMOSQL_LICENSE_KEY_FILE=/path/to/license.jwt
export GIZMOSQL_ENABLE_INSTRUMENTATION=1
./gizmosql_server --database-filename mydb.db

Inline license key (no file needed)

If you'd rather inject the license value directly — handy for secret managers and orchestrators that hand you a secret as an environment variable — pass the literal JWT instead of a path with --license-key / GIZMOSQL_LICENSE_KEY:

export GIZMOSQL_LICENSE_KEY="eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...."
./gizmosql_server --database-filename mydb.db

The two forms are mutually exclusive in practice: if both the inline key and a key file are provided, the inline key wins (and a warning is logged that the file is ignored). Existing --license-key-file deployments are unaffected.

Docker example: 

docker run --name gizmosql \
    -e GIZMOSQL_LICENSE_KEY_FILE=/opt/gizmosql/license.jwt \
    -e GIZMOSQL_ENABLE_INSTRUMENTATION=1 \
    -e GIZMOSQL_PASSWORD=mypassword \
    -v /path/to/license.jwt:/opt/gizmosql/license.jwt:ro \
    gizmodata/gizmosql:latest

Docker with an inline key (e.g. from a Docker/Kubernetes secret), no volume mount: 

docker run --name gizmosql \
    -e GIZMOSQL_LICENSE_KEY="$(cat /path/to/license.jwt)" \
    -e GIZMOSQL_ENABLE_INSTRUMENTATION=1 \
    -e GIZMOSQL_PASSWORD=mypassword \
    gizmodata/gizmosql:latest

License Key Format

License keys are JWT tokens signed by GizmoData. They contain: - Customer information - Expiration date - Licensed features

Without a Valid License

If you attempt to use enterprise features without a valid license:

Error: Instrumentation is a commercially licensed enterprise feature.
       Please provide a valid license key file via --license-key-file
       or contact GizmoData sales at sales@gizmodata.com to obtain a license.

SQL Functions

GizmoSQL provides a SQL function to query the current edition:

SELECT GIZMOSQL_EDITION();

Returns: - 'Core' - When running GizmoSQL Core edition - 'Enterprise' - When running GizmoSQL Enterprise Edition with a valid license

Feature Comparison

Feature Core Enterprise
Flight SQL Protocol ✓ ✓
DuckDB Backend ✓ ✓
SQLite Backend ✓ ✓
TLS Encryption ✓ ✓
mTLS Client Auth ✓ ✓
Basic Auth ✓ ✓
Bearer Token Auth ✓ ✓
JWT Token Auth ✓ ✓
Health Check Endpoints ✓ ✓
Kubernetes Ready ✓ ✓
Session Instrumentation - ✓
Prometheus Endpoint & SQL Metrics - ✓ (metrics license feature)
KILL SESSION Command - ✓
Per-Catalog Permissions - ✓
SSO/OAuth (JWKS) - ✓
Statement Queuing - ✓

Startup Banner

Core Edition: 

GizmoSQL Core - Copyright (c) 2026 GizmoData LLC
 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0
 https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Enterprise Edition (with valid license): 

GizmoSQL Enterprise Edition - Copyright (c) 2026 GizmoData LLC
 License ID: abc123-def456
 Licensed to: Acme Corporation (customer@company.com)
 License issued: 2025-01-22
 License expires: 2026-01-22
 Licensed by: GizmoData LLC